


Winter Storm Wynonna

by burglebezzlement



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Cooking, Earp Homestead, F/F, Gen, Nicole Haught's cat, Power Outage, Snow, Snowed In, Treat, Woodstove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9658253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/pseuds/burglebezzlement
Summary: Wynonna is ready. Ready for the storm. Ready for Waverly.Ready for pretty much anything except Nicole’s squad car pulling up behind Waverly’s Jeep.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RecessiveJean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RecessiveJean/gifts).



> Happy Chocolate Box! I have a hard time resisting prompts for snowstorms this time of year. 
> 
> I have gone with the semi-canon name for Nicole’s cat (referenced on the show's Twitter, if anyone's curious: https://twitter.com/wynonnaearp/status/746447425141760000 )

Wynonna surveys the row of wood stacked on the Homestead’s front porch with satisfaction. It might be messy, but it’s there, ready for the storm to come.

The Ghost River Triangle’s always had blizzards, real Little-House-On-The-Prairie blizzards that blow in suddenly, filling the air with stinging ice and snow and trapping everyone in their homes. Everyone. Even Revenants, Wynonna thinks, patting the end of the woodpile. 

She’s been running around saving people for what feels like a lifetime, and after getting Waverly and Dolls back, she’s ready for some rest. Even if it’s rest enforced by Winter Storm Whatever.

She’s ready for some quality time with Waverly, too. Wynonna’s brought home all the nacho chips they can eat, plus jalapeños and salsa and queso, and real cheese and sour cream, just in case Waverly wants to get fancy. She’s got three boxes of the Funfetti cake mix their mom used to use, to bake off before the power goes out and they can’t use the oven, and enough cartons of frosting to keep them through three blizzards. 

Wynonna is ready. Ready for the storm. Ready for Waverly.

Ready for pretty much anything except Nicole’s squad car pulling up behind Waverly’s Jeep to park.

“Wynonna!” Waverly jumps out of the Jeep and comes over to hug her. “The firewood looks great.”

Wynonna hugs back, trying to think of a way to ask about Nicole. _So I notice that you brought your girlfriend. Is she just making sure you got home safe?_

“I invited Nicole over,” Waverly says. She makes a face. “Her apartment only has electric heat, can you believe that? In Purgatory!”

While Wynonna watches, Waverly bounces over to Nicole’s squad car and starts pulling stuff out. A suitcase. Several bags. A —

“Is that a cat carrier?” Wynonna shouts, and Waverly waves back.

“We couldn’t leave her there to freeze to death!” Waverly calls. “They said the storm might be three days.”

Wynonna looks down at her woodpile and sighs.

* * *

It takes two trips to get everything in from the cars, although Wynonna’s relieved to see that Nicole’s at least not moving in. All Nicole has is a suitcase and a computer bag. 

The rest of the bags are cat supplies (litter pan, extra litter, scratching board, several toys that look brand new and have Waverly written all over them) and food that Waverly bought. Wynonna watches her little sister unpack lettuce and apples and oatmeal. So much for her pitch to Food Network for a show called Junk Food Blizzard. 

It’s not that Wynonna’s not happy to see Nicole. She _likes_ Nicole.

And it’s not like Waverly owed Wynonna the blizzard. Only….

“So where’s the cat hiding?” Wynonna asks. 

“I put her in the bathroom,” Nicole says, looking worried. “I don’t think she’ll try to attack you, but can you be careful when you open the door? I want her to get used to being here before we let her out.”

Wynonna nods. Great. So she’s stuck with her sister and her sister’s girlfriend, who will probably hide out in her sister’s bedroom for the entire storm, and every time she needs to pee, she’s going to have to protect her ankles from Nicole’s bloodthirsty cat.

Normally Doc’d be there, out in the barn, and Wynonna could go out and invite him to come in and get warm, maybe sleep inside to keep out of the worst of the snow. But tonight Doc’s over at Gus’s place, helping her new ranch foreman with a sick horse. Wynonna’s not sure why bran and something called a fomentation would help, but Doc seems convinced.

 _Maybe I should call Dolls_ , Wynonna thinks. She’s not sure what kind of heat his apartment has. Maybe she can frame him coming over and rescuing her from three days as a third wheel as an offer out of the kindness of her heart.

The wind gusts against the Homestead, and there’s a spray of snow against the window. When Wynonna looks out, she can barely see Waverly’s Jeep through the blowing snow. 

The storm’s arrived.

* * *

Waverly makes dinner that night. It’s a pot of stew, potatoes and sausage and some sort of green stuff that Wynonna doesn’t identify and doesn’t want to. Healthy stuff. It’s a desecration, making healthy stuff in the same kitchen Wynonna’s been using to perfect her recipe for Nachos Ala All The Toppings. 

It tastes pretty good, though, once Wynonna adds a couple shots of hot sauce, so she stays quiet and lets Waverly and Nicole carry the conversation while the storm rages outside. 

Wynonna goes to bed early. She figures Waverly and Nicole just want to disappear into Waverly’s bedroom; why make them pretend? So she helps Waverly with the dishes, and then lies down on her couch, under the window, listening to the snow hitting the windows and the wind howling around the corner of the Homestead until she finally falls asleep.

* * *

The fire goes out in the night, and when Wynonna wakes up, it’s cold in the main room, outside of the warmth of her quilt and a warm furry lump that’s attached itself to her hip.

Wynonna pulls off the quilt to find Nicole’s cat curled up by her side. While she watches in the dim light, the cat stretches and yawns, tiny pink tongue curling against tiny teeth, and then curls back up in the warm spot where Wynonna was sleeping.

“Glad my body heat could be of assistance,” Wynonna says. She’s shivering in her tank top and panties, so she gets up quick and pulls on yesterday’s jeans before rebuilding the fire.

When she flips the lightswitch, there’s no response. Power’s out. _Not a surprise_ , Wynonna thinks. She pulls paper and kindling from the bin next to the stove and shivers while she watches the flames lick at the newsprint. 

Outside, the wind’s blowing, gusting past the house and pushing the snow and sculpting it into drifts against the cars and the fences. 

Once the fire in the stove’s caught, Wynonna heads into the kitchen to dig up some water and a pot. Their well’s out, with the power down, but she and Waverly both bought bottled water. 

She throws the pot of water on the woodstove to boil and goes back into the kitchen to dig around for the donuts. They’re not as good as a 12-donut assorted mix from Dolls, but they’re covered in powdered sugar.

“That’ll do, pig,” Wynonna mutters. But when she tries to sit down with her donut, Nicole’s cat comes and winds around her ankles. 

“You’re hungry?” The cat looks up at her and meows, piteously, like nobody’s fed her for weeks. “Fine.” Wynonna sets her donut down on the counter and crouches down to look through the grocery bags Waverly hasn’t unpacked yet.

There’s about eighteen cans of cat food, so Wynonna grabs one at random and opens it up. When she sets the food down on a plate, the cat races over to eat it. Her tail’s low on the floor.

Wynonna has the coffee brewed and some oatmeal on the stove for Waverly and is contemplating a third donut when Nicole tiptoes out into the main room and shuts the door to Waverly’s room carefully behind her. She’s wearing jeans and a heavy sweater with snowflakes on it, the stylized kind Wynonna used to see people wearing at ski areas in the Alps. Her hair’s mussed, like she slept on it funny. It’s still weird seeing her with her hair down. 

“Waverly’s still asleep,” Nicole says. “What smells good?”

Wynonna gets a mug from the cupboard and pours Nicole coffee, carefully, keeping the strainer in place to keep the grounds out.

“Power went out,” she says, although Nicole probably figured that out. 

Nicole takes a sip from the mug and sighs. “God, I needed that.”

“There’s oatmeal on the woodstove for you guys.”

“I think Waverly bought that for cookies.”

“Really?” The power going out means they can’t use the oven — Waverly knows that, Wynonna thinks. But then Nicole’s cat jumps up on Wynonna’s lap and starts kneading Wynonna’s thigh with her claws. 

“Hey.” Wynonna tries to put her hand under the cat’s paws. “Hey there. Be nice.”

“She’s mad at me. I hope she wasn’t annoying last night. I was hoping she wouldn’t get out.”

“She was fine,” Wynonna says. She strokes a hand along the cat’s fur and smiles at the cat’s answering purr, low and rusty. “Why’s she mad at you?”

“Waverly,” Nicole says, dryly. “Calamity Jane’s never been much of a cat for sharing.”

Wynonna raises an eyebrow at the name, but goes on stroking the cat’s head.

Nicole stares down into her mug. “Waverly keeps buying her toys,” she says. “Cat food. Calamity won’t eat it unless I’m the one who puts it down, though.”

“Sounds like you chose the right name.” Wynonna scratches the cat behind the ears and then leaves off petting her, but the cat’s claws suddenly tighten on Wynonna’s thigh, pricking through the denim of her jeans with ease. _Fine_ , Wynonna thinks. _I’ll keep petting you._

Nicole gives Wynonna a questioning look before taking one of the donuts. 

“Take all the donuts you want,” Wynonna says. Because she’s better than a cat. She’s not going to be that person, being upset that her sister’s found someone. Nicole’s amazing and she _gets_ Waverly and Wynonna’s happy they found each other. And if Nicole carries a gun and can protect Waverly, well, so much the better.

There’s a sudden gust of wind that makes the windows rattle.

“Still bad out,” Nicole says.

“Yeah,” Wynonna says. “We have the woodstove, so we’ll be fine, but it’s kind of lonely out here.” She strokes the cat behind the ears, letting her fingers dawdle in the short, soft fur.

Nicole smiles at Wynonna, tentatively, and then gets up and grabs both their mugs. “Let me get you a refill.”

* * *

When Waverly comes out of her room a while later, she’s got her hair streaming down loose and she’s trying to brush it. “Ugh,” she says. “I can’t believe we still lose water when we lose power. I can call anyone in the world from my cell phone, but we really can’t have a hot shower when we lose power? I call bogus on this future.”

“We could get a generator,” Wynonna says. She starts to get up, but Calamity Jane’s claws tighten on her thigh. 

“We should definitely look into that.” Waverly sits down at the table, and Nicole slides a mug of coffee and a donut in front of her. “Oh god, you are the best.”

Nicole smiles. “I know.”

Wynonna sets Calamity Jane on the floor, over her protests, and gives Waverly a hug. 

“What’s this for?” Waverly hugs back, but Wynonna can tell she’s confused. 

_For being my sister_ , Wynonna thinks. _For being Waverly._

“Nicole said you bought the oatmeal for cookies,” she says, instead. “I’m so relieved. I thought you were trying to eat healthy, baby girl.”

“There’s nothing wrong with apples,” Waverly says, but she hugs Wynonna back for a moment longer, until Wynonna lets go.

* * *

It turns out Waverly’s got a recipe for cookies that doesn’t need baking, just heating on the stovetop. Wynonna and Nicole build the fire in the woodstove up hot, and Waverly makes the cookies, mixing them together and dropping them on a pan to cool.

They keep the stove going. Keep the Homestead warm. Even though Wynonna and Waverly both bought bottled water, they underestimated how much of it they’d go through. They end up melting snow from outside in a pot on the stove so they can wash dishes. 

Waverly digs up some old board games, from up in the attic, and they figure out a new set of rules for Candyland with help from Waverly’s bubblegum sake. And if Waverly and Nicole turn it into strip Candyland after they go to bed, Wynonna doesn’t need to know about that. She’s out in the main room, tending the fire and petting Calamity Jane, who’s decided to sleep by Wynonna’s side again. 

When the snow finally stops, when the wind dies down enough to leave the sculpted drifts alone, they all pile into their coats and boots and go outside to dig out the Homestead. The snow glitters under the sun, white and blinding.

Waverly’s got a third shovel, for Nicole, because she thinks ahead like that. With Nicole and Waverly both shoveling, they get the Homestead and the path out to the barn and the area around the cars cleared before their plow guy even shows up to plow the driveway down to the Homestead from the main road.

“We could get a plow for your Jeep,” Wynonna says, watching the plow guy work.

Waverly grins. “We could get a snowblower.”

Wynonna shakes her head and adds it to the list, along with a generator. Maybe someday.

“I should go put the extra shovel in Nicole’s car,” Waverly says. 

“Leave it here,” Wynonna says. “She’ll need it for next time.”

“Next time?” Waverly smiles, crooked.

“Don’t push it,” Wynonna growls. But they both know there’ll be a next time. 

There’s more storms ahead, for all of them. But three’s not the crowd she thought it would be. It’s company.


End file.
